GENEVA, June 17: The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday hit back at a report by US Republican senators, saying it aimed to discredit the humanitarian organisation by spreading false accusations.

The report — entitled “Are US Interests Disserved by the International Committee of the Red Cross?” — was published on Monday.

While it said the ICRC “deserves praise and recognition” for helping save American lives during two world wars and for delivering relief to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, it also contained a string of charges against the organisation.

The ICRC should be called to account for working against US interests and seeking to boost protection for terrorists, it said.

“The report’s purpose appears to be to discredit the ICRC by putting forward false allegations and unsubstantiated accusations,” said ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger.

The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions on the protection of prisoners of war and civilians hit by conflict.

As such, its staff regularly visit prisoners held by the US military in Iraq, as well as the hundreds of suspected terrorists in custody at the US naval facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Kellenberger and other top ICRC members have also met senior US officials, including President George W. Bush.

“The US government and the ICRC have good and trustful relations,” said Kellenberger.

“The ICRC is not — and does not feel — above criticism and is open to constructive dialogue with those who have different opinions. However, dialogue does not appear to be the primary objective of the authors of the (report).”

The ICRC has a longstanding tradition of confidentiality, but extracts from its reports criticising the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Guantanamo emerged in the press last year, provoking the ire of US conservatives.

The Senate report claims that the ICRC set out to “inaccurately and unfairly accuse the US of not adhering to the Geneva Conventions.”

Details also recently surfaced of a purported angry exchange between ICRC staff and the US military, in which an aid worker allegedly compared the American soldiers to the Nazis.

Kellenberger dismissed this.

“Contrary to what is stated in the document, the ICRC has never compared US soldiers to the Nazis and the ICRC has never leaked to the public or the media any of the confidential reports submitted to the US authorities,” he told reporters.

The report alleged that the ICRC was involved in trying to “reinterpret and expand international law so as to afford terrorists and insurgents the same rights and privileges as military personnel.”

Kellenberger said this was misplaced.

“To be neutral doesn’t mean putting all the actors of a conflict on the same level.”

However, he said, “you are not taking sides between parties to a conflict because you may lose access to detainees if one of the parties feels that you are not neutral.”

The US is the ICRC’s largest single funder, the report noted, calling on US authorities to examine whether money from American taxpayers is advancing their country’s interest.

“The ICRC is grateful for the generous financial support the US government provides to its worldwide operations,” said Kellenberger.—AFP